Chapter 2: Marilyn Merrill

I had just come downstairs when I noticed the wagon sitting in front of the house. Lottie was in the kitchen making breakfast for her daughter and my two boys. I am 6 months pregnant with our third baby and I am still throwing up every morning, food is the last thing on my mind.

“Lottie! Come quick!” I shouted.

Together we went to the wagon and found my husband. He was talking out of his head as we carried him into the house. What is he talking about? Yankee gold? While Lottie cleaned his wounds I went out to the wagon. The first time I saw it I could not believe my eyes. Sacks of $20 gold coins! I had never seen that much money in my life!

John had told me to hide it so I picked up the first sack. Quickly I realized that I should not try to do this alone. I went back in the house and sat with Lottie and John. When he went to sleep, I asked Lottie to help me.

We hauled all 25 sacks down to the root cellar and put them in the safe we had hidden before the war. Then Lottie went in to check on John as I led the mules to the barn and un-hitched them from the wagon. I turned them out into a pasture that had not had an animal in it in over two years. There was a river at the back of the pasture, so they had water.

Two days later John died. I did not bury him in the family cemetery. He already had a grave there. He is buried in the soft ground next to the river. The wagon was chopped up and used for firewood. We killed one of the mules and butchered him for meat. The first meat (beside chicken and fish) we had in ages! Over the next two years we ate the other three mules.

It was a month after John died that a Union calvary troop rode up. Lottie and I met the young 2^nd Lt. on the front porch.

“Mrs. Merrill?”

“Yes.”

“I’m looking for your husband, Captain John Merrill. Do you know where he is at?”

While Lottie waited on the front porch, this young Lt. and I, along with his Sgt., walked over to the cemetery. I pointed to his grave.

“He was wounded at Shiloh and died soon afterwards here in the house.”

“We have reason to believe that is not the case. We think he was not killed at Shiloh and had organized a group of raiders that operated behind the lines, they ambushed everything from troop movements to supply trains. The rumor is that he was involved in a robbery after the war ended that left 18 Union soldiers dead and a half million dollars of payroll missing. Seeing that you are pregnant makes me think there may be truth to those rumors.”

“If you don’t believe he is dead you are welcome to dig him up. We didn’t have wood for a coffin so we just covered him with a sheet. Be careful he’s been down there over three years. And as for this baby it ain’t his. The daddy is one of those three Yankees soldiers that raped me.”

“Mrs. Merrill, I am doubting your story. Our troops did not use rape as a weapon of war. No officer would allow his men...” he was interrupted by Lottie screaming for help.

He and his Sgt ran to the house, I followed at a slower pace.

“What the hell is going on?” he demanded.

“Ah, Lt. we just having a little fun with this darkie. She wants to show us some appreciation for setting her free.”

Lottie pulled her torn dress up, covering her naked body as best she could, then ran into the house.

“Sgt. Arrest these two men. I’ll deal with them when we get back to headquarters.” He looked over at me.

“I’m sorry to have caused you any problems, Ma’am. I’m going to report that there is no truth to the rumors about Captain Merrill being alive.” He mounted his horse and rode off. That was the last time any Yankees came to the house looking for either my husband or the stolen payroll.

A couple of months later Lottie helped me deliver Joe, our youngest son.

The next two years were hard. We made due by eating the mules and growing a big garden. We dealt with everything from carpet baggers to corrupt politicians, but we made it. We never touched that gold hidden in the safe for fear of someone questioning where a widow woman would have come by a new $20 gold piece.